Canvas is a popular learning management system (LMS) that allows universities and colleges to organize online studying. Teachers place the course materials on the platform, design the quizzes, check the assignments, track progress, and grade students’ work. The learners, in their turn, get access to information, complete the tasks, take tests, and receive feedback within the Canvas platform.

The system leaves space for freedom and self-paced learning. At the same time, online studying may increase the risk of cheating, limiting the opportunity for the teacher to keep a watchful eye on the students during exams. Canvas takes the problem into account, providing several features that prevent and detect different forms of academic dishonesty. Moreover, the platform allows the integration of additional tools, including a plagiarism scanner, to protect academic integrity and make the learning process transparent and effective.

How Canvas Detects Cheating

The system pays special attention to preventing students from cheating during the tests. It gives the teachers access to the tools that they can use to monitor students’ behavior and performance. Here are other measures implemented by Canvas.

  1. Students need a code of access to enter the system so that they can take exams only in a Canvas-controlled environment. ID verification ensures the student takes the test personally and prevents ghostwriting.
  2. The test questions are shaffled, appearing in random order for each student, making it harder to copy the answers from the peers.
  3. The limited time minimizes the options of looking for help or consulting with someone.
  4. The various types of monitoring software watch both the students’ behavior through the camera and their activity on the screen. Through the Quiz Log function, the system will detect when the person taking the online test opens a new tab or browser, recording and reporting any suspicious action. Canvas can also avert cheating by locking the browser during the exam. For a broader look at how AI technologies like Copilot and ChatGPT differ in capabilities including their potential roles in education and academic integrity – G2 has a comprehensive guide on Copilot vs ChatGPT.
  5. Canvas tracks the time spent by the student on each question. Teachers can analyze keystrokes and mouse clicks if the test results seem suspicious.
  6. Plagiarism detector and answers comparing software recognize copying from other sources or groupmates.

How Canvas Checks for Plagiarism

The Canvas platform provides integration with different tools, including plagiarism checkers. It means that the teacher can scan the text right on Canvas and get the report unveiling the similarities found between the assignment and other resources.

The features may differ depending on the checker. For instance, PlagiarismCheck.org enables teachers to detect plagiarism in Discussions and Quizzes with Integrito browser extension. What exactly can teachers see in the originality check report?

  • PlagiarismCheck.org and analogic tools detect similarities between the assignment on Canvas and their databases, highlighting the matches. The teacher can follow the links to the sources and compare the texts.
  • Integrito by PlagiarismCheck.org enables the teacher to detect potentially AI-generated content: the sophisticated AI writing checker traces machine-like writing patterns and warns the professor about potential cheating.
  • Till recently, teachers did not have proper tools for checking Discussions and Quizzes for plagiarism. However, the Integrito browser extension has covered this blind spot.
  • Students want to implement originality checking before submitting their assignments to eliminate potential plagiarism and ensure good grades.

One of the best ways to prevent academic cheating is to address the root of the issue and educate the students on originality importance. Here are the most common reasons why students violate academic honesty rules.

how does canvas detect cheating

Plagiarism vs copyright infringement: what is the difference?

The term copyright infringement means inappropriate use of one’s registered intellectual property without the permission of the right owner. The most widespread kinds of copyright infringement are piracy and plagiarism. In the case of piracy, the person or organization credits the authorship, yet the right owner does not benefit from it. The important point is that intellectual property must be protected by copyrights. In this example, a pirate that distributes music, films, or books makes the original author lose his or her profit from the copyrighted items. Moreover, if one pays for content, such as purchasing a movie or subscribing to content streaming, it is illegal to distribute it for profit. Thus, when one organizes an event, such as the screening of a film, and charges guests for it, it is also a copyright infringement. That person makes a profit off of others’ intellectual property.

Plagiarism is a type of copyright infringement, in which a person presents the original ideas of another person as one’s own or fails to reference the author. The most widespread and also detectable cases of plagiarism occur in writing. However, it plagiarism not limited to it, as copying also concerns ideas, music, visual design, and even dance moves. For example, a sequence from Satoshi Kon’s cult anime movie Perfect Blue inspired Darren Aronofsky so much that he bought the rights to the whole film to mimic it in his 2000 picture Requiem for a Dream. If Aronofsky shot the scene without the permission, he would have been sued for plagiarism, as the similarity was evident.

There are different ways in which an original work can be plagiarized. The most common are quoting the author without referencing them, paraphrasing original ideas and presenting them as one’s own, patchwriting, and referencing an author that does not exist. Moreover, copyright infringement and plagiarism are different in terms of the victims of the violation. Copyright infringement usually has only one victim: namely, the right owner who does not receive credit or profit for their work. Plagiarism may have two victims or sets of victims: the original author of the intellectual property and the people deceived into thinking the plagiarized work is original.

Finally, if the work is in the public domain, using it in one’s own work is a copyright crime by itself but not a case of copyright infringement, as there is no owner of the rights. With no definite right shoulder, plagiarism is a matter of ethical debate, while copyright is a legal subject.

PlagiarismCheck.org AI essay checker is designed to make the educational environment motivating and convenient. Check our solutions for Canvas and other platforms – they will help the students, too!